Hyundai i40 saloon – that’s the Euro version – finally arrives

It's the Hyundai i40 Saloon for Europe

As we reported last week – after Hyundai had, rather pointlessly, teased us with an image – the European version of the Hyundai i40 saloon is about to launch at the Barcelona Motor Show. So we have details, although much of what we have is what we already know from the Hyundai i40 Estate.

What we do know is that the European  i40 – whatever guise it comes in – seems a fine car and a real threat to the sector domination by the Ford Mondeo and VW Passat. It certainly looks good, and Hyundai are promising the best ride in the sector.

Choice of engines at launch is a strong offer of two petrol and two diesel units, with Hyundai predicting the most popular will be the 1.7 litre diesel with 134bhp and 124g/km (when fitted with ISG).  The same engine comes in a low-fat version with just 115bhp and 113g/km. Which really isn’[t enough to get anywhere other than slowly.

Petrol choice is between a 2.0 litre with direct injection, 175bhp, 156g/km and 41.4mpg. Performance isn’t exactly scintillating with a 0-60mph of 9.7 seconds. The 1.6 litre petrol lump comes with 133bhp, 149g/km and an even slower sprint of 11.6 seconds to 60mph.

Plenty of helpful toys are on offer with stuff like smart parking, lane assist, rear-view cameras, Hill Start Assist Control and SatNav available. In terms of being comfy (which might be just as well mas the performance means you’ll be in the car for a while) there’s front air ventilation seats and heated and reclining rear seats. Although Hyundai hasn’t bothered to tell us what comes as standard and what costs more.

The Hyundai i40 goes on sale in the UK in September, and although Hyundai hasn’t managed to come up with prices for the UK yet, it seems reasonable to expect prices around £2k less than the Estate. Which means the i40 saloon will cost from around £17.5k.

The i40 saloon looks promising, even if the performance on offer is not exactly enticing.

Performance* (manual transmission)

1.7 / 115          1.7 / 136          1.6 / 135          2.0 / 177 Top speed (mph)         118                  123                  121                  130 0-to-62 mph (sec)        12.9                 10.6                 11.6                 9.7

Economy (manual transmission)

1.7 / 115          1.7 / 136          1.6 / 135          2.0 / 177 Combined mpg**         65.7 (ISG)       62.7 (ISG)       47 (ISG)          41.5 CO2 (g/km)                       122                  124                  149                  156 CO2 (g/km) with ISG     113                  119                  140                  —-

Diesel engines

1.7-litre 115 ps

Type / capacity            U-II, DOHC, four-cylinder, 16-valve with HLA / 1685 cc Power / torque 115 ps (85 kW) @ 4000 rpm / 260 Nm (26.5kgm) @ 1250-2750 rpm Emissions 122 g/km (113 g/km when fitted with ISG)

1.7-litre 136 ps

Type / capacity            U-II, DOHC, four-cylinder, 16-valve with HLA / 1685 cc Power / torque 136 ps (100 kW) @ 4000 rpm / 325 Nm (32,0kgm) @ 2000-2500 rpm Emissions 124 g/km (119 g/km when fitted with ISG)

Petrol engines

1.6-litre 135 ps

Type / capacity            Gamma GDI, four-cylinder, 16-valve with MLA / 1591 cc Power / torque 135 ps (99 kW) @ 6300 rpm / 164 Nm (16,8kgm) @ 4850 rpm Emissions                    149 g/km (140 g/km when fitted with ISG)

2.0-litre 177 ps

Type / capacity            Nu GDI, four-cylinder, 16-valve with HLA & Swing ARM / 1999 cc Power / torque 177 ps (130 kW) @ 6500 rpm / 208 Nm (21,7kgm) @ 4700 rpm Emissions                    156 g/km

By Cars UK